Why do people quit running after high school and college?

I suppose one added benefit of continuing to train post college even if you aren’t going to “make it” (or any kind of a living out of it) is you can probably place well or win on the local or regional road race scene and then perhaps hang out post race and impress single ladies with your 1st place road race trophies, your 5min mile pace, your Boston Qualifier and/or Olympic hobby jogger-like road race times.

nerdy virgin xc runner wrote:

reasons student runners compete:

1) pad their college applications

2) their parents make them

3) their friends are on the team, or to impress a girl

4) are extremely competitive and want to be the best

5) they genuinely love running

people in the 1-3 category will quit once the social pressure is removed. group 4 will continue into college and train as hard as possible to run PRs and race hard, then either bring themselves to injury or burn out. their primary passion is to PR at the final collegiate event and then "retire". the rarest group, group 5s will run, slow or fast, their whole lives because they enjoy it. what you need is a rare combo of a group 4 and group 5 person to continue on and become elite. and even then that person will likely be distracted by the millions of other opportunities in life.

+1 agreed- good job. Usually takes some #5 to try to keep it up. When you get to your late 20s and 30s you realize there are other benefits to being a naturally good runner who can barely train and still do well vs the general population just off your competitive running background

I took the advice to follow my passion and chase a dream. Did it til late 20's. Still was competitive after college and PRd from 1500- HM, including steeple, my focus.

I ran because I liked to and wanted to win. Running was ok, but surfing is more fun. In the past 10 years, I look back and wish that I chased a career instead of a dream. I make $50k per year-- many friends are double +. I have a healthy family and home, but unless you're knocking on the door of the Olympic trials at 21-23, you're wasting your time.

Myself I have dabbled into the corporate money making life on and off but found it would never give me as much satisfaction as grinding out high mileage weeks and trying to better my lifetime PRs. Trying to do both simultaneously is a huge struggle but possible with the right approach (live very close to your job, have a supportive spouse, do not have kids, showers and locker rooms at work, work from home every once in awhile if allowed, avoid any BS business travel (horrible for sleep and recovery), & join a company that lets you take flex vacation breaks to travel to marathons and other race opportunities ).

....but it’s hard NOT to have companies take advantage of you and work you so hard to the bone you can no longer train more than 70mpw.

Chased the dream wrote:

I took the advice to follow my passion and chase a dream. Did it til late 20's. Still was competitive after college and PRd from 1500- HM, including steeple, my focus.

I ran because I liked to and wanted to win. Running was ok, but surfing is more fun. In the past 10 years, I look back and wish that I chased a career instead of a dream. I make $50k per year-- many friends are double +. I have a healthy family and home, but unless you're knocking on the door of the Olympic trials at 21-23, you're wasting your time.

Ehh....I wouldn't call it "wasting your time". If you like it it isnt a waste. I would call watching TV in free time "wasting" because I personally don't enjoy TV but if that is your thing (running was mine) then go for it. We all lead different lives.

I did the same, like you, until age 28 and then kind of passed on from making my life running. I wanted to focus more on law and finding a woman. If I continued running to this day would I be faster? Probably. But there comes a time where life is more than just running all the damn time. I had no social life whatsoever. It was literally all running. Wake up at 5am, run 10 miles, go to law school until 7, study/class/meetings/internships, run again for 4-5 miles, in bed by 10 pm. It kind of sucked, but my running goals were important to me at that time so I sacrificed.

I was a nobody in college but I loved training hard and competing so I stuck at it and got impressive times while also going to law school and practicing law afterwards (of which I am currently doing). I went from 16:30/35 nobody in college to 14:11/30:30 at 28, then got a bad injury and have no desire to get back into it since. And it has been 2 years now.

I'm still popping the sub-20 5K 30 years after college, on a few runs a month.

No way to live your life, son wrote:

Nitro cold brew is da shi wrote:

Obviously priorities change and some people just don’t find it fun to train anymore. Hiring a coach and/or joining a USATF based club and traveling to train. Plus you need to stay injury free and outside the college environment do not have access to NCAA trainers. A lot of things build up and while these guys never formally quit, they usually train sort of in a halfway in it kind of way and might pop a sub 20min 5k 10 years out

I'm still popping the sub-20 5K 30 years after college, on a few runs a month.

you've done a solid job maintaining some basic level of cardiovascular fitness then. how much weight can you put on and still run decent times?

OP

You pose an often-asked question.

Many note that young men and women join a team, such as Cross Country in HS to be with friends or to be on a good team, or it's fun, etc.. then in college, well, most are not nearly as good as they would need to be to be on the college team, so.. Add to this many Cross Country team members are good students. In college, they know they will need time to study. This would mean they would need to choose the cross country or good grades. At least, that's what they think. As for after college, well, life get's in the way. A new job. A career. You will also notice a growth of runners in their late 20's , and early 30's. This is when the bar-hopping with friends becomes a bit of a bore, and they begin to notice they are getting out of shape, etc...so...

This is also why, at most local road races, the fastest top 5 (if there were teams) is usually the masters men and women.

That's no joke. Men 40-55 are usually at least 3 in the top 10 of a non-money race 400 runners or smaller. Look it up.

jin_ wrote:

No way to live your life, son wrote:

I'm still popping the sub-20 5K 30 years after college, on a few runs a month.

you've done a solid job maintaining some basic level of cardiovascular fitness then. how much weight can you put on and still run decent times?

Run five or six times a month. 6-1, 185.

Correct, but you don't have it quite right.

Men 40-55 are dominating the top 10 at nearly every race out there, but they're made up of two different groups:

Group one: Former HS or college good/great runners who went through all you said, and are now back in it because the kids are on auto-pilot or with the estranged wife.

Group two: Those who COULD have been a contender in HS or college but never realized it, came to running later in life, and actually have talent.

The ones who were great in HS and college and kept going rarely make it to the 40-55 category with any success. I said rarely, not "never."

Finding myself in the 40-55 category, and also as one of those who kept going a while after college to see where I'd wind up ...

Diminishing returns were a B after college. And all working harder, and harder, and harder did for me was let me win every road race I ran by 4 minutes, instead of 2 or 3.

Today, being able to run and still manage everything else I've got going on including chronic injuries, means the successes are that much sweeter, and work really does pay off. It's a LOT funner now than it was when I was 22-24 years old. Not as fun as HS and college, but what are you going to do?

I moved to the mountains and realized that skiing and mountain biking are much more fun and fulfilling for me than running.

I am in the “Group two” described above, and since I started running in my earlier 40s have wondered the exact same thing as the OP. Why did those h.s. and college guys stop? Why? Unless there were some type of serious injury, it makes no sense to me to stop. A decent college runner could end up being a very competitive runner in his/her later 20s/early 30s, especially at the longer distances, and especially since most people reach their peak after their college years. Put in the miles and see what happens. Why give it up...all to become a fat lawyer or CPA?

And to the poster who mentions skiing and mountain biking, I say nothing beats running. Nothing.

For most people, by the time you reach age 22-23 you’re a bit burned out. You feel like you want to experiment being a bum and going to bars at night so you move into a city apartment and just do that for the time being. You also want to make some money and go have fun and then try to score. Running for the sake of being competitive just isn’t as appealing anymore. Then when you get to your late 20s and into your 30s after years of time off from the sport and working to make six figure incomes, you wish you’d kept the sport up and not have quit it.

NCAA coaching blows wrote:

For most people, by the time you reach age 22-23 you’re a bit burned out. You feel like you want to experiment being a bum and going to bars at night so you move into a city apartment and just do that for the time being. You also want to make some money and go have fun and then try to score. Running for the sake of being competitive just isn’t as appealing anymore. Then when you get to your late 20s and into your 30s after years of time off from the sport and working to make six figure incomes, you wish you’d kept the sport up and not have quit it.

Actually quitting running competitively 3 years ago was the best decision I have ever made. I am not tired all the time any more. I actually have time for other things in my life that are way more important than running, like my job, family, socializing. Not to mention, no woman unless she too is a competitive runner is into skinny boys. And even a lot of competitive female runners are into gym rats and guys with big muscles.

Lets face it but distance runners suck impressing girls. No person truly knows how fast a 4 minute mile is, or do they care. But seeing someone with big muscles, someone masculine, that raises girls' attention. That skinny, 19 bmi runner guy who is in his mid 20s yet looks 16 is just repulsive to girls. Ive gotten so many girls since I started hitting the weights and stop running so much.

I disagree. I’ve found that’s true for younger girls but women who have their stuff together like a man with low body fat.

You’ll realize I was right by the time you’re 32 with bags under your eyes from working to make money with a higher BMI with a gut but you’ll at least have your disproportionately developed biceps to still show off at the bars.

Found the quitter....

It is difficult to sustain running 6 or 7 days a week continuously, especially when a person has exhausted most of their potential and also experienced the utmost top of the emotional roller coaster within the sport by having a full team around them. Life can change fast, a job that takes 8-10 hours from your day. Potentially a girl or boyfriend on top, other commitments too. We are on auto pilot in high school and college with minimal responsibilities. After college, a lot of people are have achieved enough from running on a personal level and are ready to see what else life has in store for them. The personal gains from running diminish substantially for a post collegiate unless you're a professional runner.

Injuries, work, life in general. Priorities tend to shift

Ever heard of a job OP? This is the sole reason Americans suck after college and the marathon